


Roses and Rubies

by DeathxReader_otp



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Angry Jude, Angst, F/M, Feels, I Tried, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jude gets a gun, Locke got what’s coming tbh, Scared Cardan, Vivienne is great, edgy Cardan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 14:48:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20508785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathxReader_otp/pseuds/DeathxReader_otp
Summary: I did this all to have Jude shoot Locke point blank but it spiraled into an angst fest...





	Roses and Rubies

Many things could happen in the span of a moment.

Jude knew that all too well. 

For she herself in a span of a moment lost everything.

No matter how tight her grip was on the crown was it seemed to slip through her fingers like the water they insisted on drowning her with; and oh how they laughed as she was swept away by the current. 

Into the gutters. 

Where she festered in filth and rage for months, the sound of their beautifully cruel laughs perpetually ringing in her ears. Some days it seemed like a whisper, scarcely there. Yet others they blared like sirens, each plus of sound seemed to become more and more distorted. 

It overwhelmed her at times, phantom fingers wrapping around her neck. She could almost feel the cool metal of their rings pressing into her throat. Cutting off her air, as if she didn’t have the right to breathe it. 

So she channeled her fear, sadness, and heartache into anger. 

An anger that burned so ferociously it seemed to eat away at the breath in her lungs and replace her blood with fire. So when she once again wrapped her fingers around Elfhame, it would burn with her. 

She left the ring on her finger as a reminder, a ruby as dark as the blood she would spill on the throne steps. 

Some days she was surprised that it didn’t melt off her finger with the fire that she glared at it with. 

_ She would bring them to their knees.  _

_ She would bring him to his knees. _

Jude has played by their rules and danced to their melodies, at the end that got her nothing. 

So now it was time to play by mortal laws. 

* * *

Cardan yet again sat on his throne. 

A revel unfolding around him. Song and dance, food and drink were abundant as the Fae basked in the glory of Elfhame and the crown. 

And just like the night before he watched a goblet of wine untouched in his hand as Fae danced around him, their moves blended tighter as if they were all one being. It had been more than half a year since he was placed on the throne. 

A too heavy crown was placed on his brow by none other than a mortal kingmaker. 

His seneschal, Jude.

Queen of shadow and Elfhame. 

He had danced along with the Fae even though she was the one that pulled his strings. Like a puppet. 

And the stars know at times he hated her, he hated how he loved it. How he would do as he was told even if those puppet strings did not tie him to her.

_ Not anymore. _

It was true, he cut his strings and cast her away, but what use was a puppet without its master?

Nothing at all.

But Cardan was willing to be nothing in order to be everything.

So he exiled Jude, his queen. Because even though she didn’t see it herself, her very land was killing her. So he cast her out, for she was better angry than dead. 

That fire that burned behind Jude's eyes was a sign that she was alive, even if that fire was directed at him. To burn him to the ground. 

But she was not here yet, and all Cardan could do was count the days until the fire named Jude Duarte ravaged Elfhame. 

And he could only hope that there would be something left in the end. 

He watched with detached disgust as Nicassica sauntered up the steps towards him, watching him from underneath her lashes. The fabric of her dress shimmered as she swayed her hips with each step. To some, she might be beautiful, enchanting even. 

But Cardan only scowled as she came up to him, and plucked his goblet from his hand. Taking a large swig from it, eyes still glued onto him. She set down the wine, seemingly oblivious of his glare.

Nicassias hands floated to the buttons of his jacket. 

Cardan had had enough. 

His hand lashed out and grabbed her wrist none too gently. 

“Keep your hands to yourself, Princess, I will not be your toy to fiddle with when you please.”

She pulled her hand back as if his grip became one of cold iron, she glared at him with a small pout on her lips.

“Must you be so rough, My King, I am only here to please you,” she fluttered her lashes at him, leaning forward slightly. 

A burst of thunder shook the palace, the dancing stopped and everyone turned to the livid King.

His eyes burned like black fire, the bore into the cowering princess, he rose ever so slowly. Rings glinting off the glow of lightning. 

At that moment he was just as much of a Wicked King as he was a Cruel Prince. 

“Leave, now.”

His voice shook through the room, it seemed not to come from him but from the land itself. It echoed through the air and sang through the clouds dark fog that flooded through the windows. 

It was the voice of a King.

**The King of Everything. **

* * *

A small smile works its way onto Jude's face as she walks into the office. The constant sounds of gunshots beating in the background. She offered a smile at the man behind the desk and slid over her I.D. and membership. 

The man clicked a few keys on his computer and waited for a beat before handing her the noise-canceling headphones. Jude slipped the card back into the pocket of her leather jacket and surged forward. 

Into the range, flashing her membership again and sliding on the headphones as she unholstered her gun. 

Every time the cool metal touched her skin the chill seemed to sink into her very core, cooling it off her burning hate.

If only for a moment. 

And the rhythmic process began. 

She tilted the gun to the side and pressed the button, sliding open the lock. Turning it back she smoothly lined up the magazine with the chamber and swiftly slammed it into the gun with the heel of her hand. 

Unlocking the safety Jude points it at the target, and with a sharp exhale she pulled the trigger. She has always relished the feeling of the guns recoil in her hands. 

It felt so  _ alive.  _

She didn’t spare the bullseye a second glance as she lines up for a second shot. 

It hits the mark. 

The second before she pulls the trigger she sees a face replacing the blankness of the poster. 

_ Locke.  _ **For fooling me for your games.**

_ Nicasscia.  _ **For your putrid pettiness and abundant hatred. **

_ Orlagh.  _ **For torturing me and trying to kill me time and time again. **

_Balekin._ **For ruining my body and mind while I could do nothing but watch. **

A flash of midnight hair and pale skin flashed across her mind. 

Her hands shook as she fire. 

It hit the mark. 

_ Cardan.  _ **For making me love you. **

Only after she pulled the trigger once more did Jude realize the chamber was empty. 

She set down the magazine and took the second one. 

_ I will play this game with my own rules.  _

She stood triumphantly.

**The Queen of Nothing.**

* * *

Vivienne knew something was brewing. 

She could feel it around Jude, there was an air to here that was hostile.

It was scary, the grin that she wore every time she left the house was not one of pure joy but of something darker. 

And she didn’t have the words to describe what it was. 

But if it was terrifying.

She watched as Jude walked back into the apartment, her face was blank and her movements robotic. 

Vivienne knew that she was her sister and that Jude wouldn’t hurt her, but even so, she walked towards her plainly.

Footsteps were a bit louder than necessary. 

Jude's head snaps towards her, she flinches then curses herself for doing so.

_ Jude Duarte: Kingmaker, Princeslayer, High seneschal, Kin of a Traitor, Queen of Nothing. _

“Jude,” said, willing the nerves out of her voice, “We need to talk.”

The look Jude gave her was one of suspicion and confusion, wordlessly she sets down her bag and follows Vivienne to the couch. 

She sits down on the couch heavily while Jude perched on the edge of it, as if ready to jump off at a moment's notice. 

“What’s the occasion,” Jude asks lightly, although there was something heavy in her eyes that made Vivienne uneasy. 

“I know something is brewing with you Jude, I don’t know what you’re going to do but I know that it’s going to get you killed,” Vivienne burst out, reaching for her sister's hands. 

Jude stared at Vivienne for a moment, anger and love swirled in her chestnut eyes, she gripped onto Vivienne's hand tightly and rose it between them. 

“ _ Only the crow may pardon you, _ he said that to me when I was exiled,” Jude spoke the words calmly but there was an undertone of bitterness to them and Vivienne could only wait for her to keep speaking.

“The night before we vowed that we would be wed till the crown passed from  _ our  _ hands,” Jude squeezed her hand tightly.

“As High Queen of Elfhame and bearer of the crown, I, Jude Duarte Greenbriar, hereby pardon myself of exile.”

Jude let go of Vivienne's hand and walked away, she could do nothing but watch as her sister prepared to bring a kingdom to its knees. 

Sister to the Queen and Kin of a Traitor Vivienne Duarte stood aside and waited for the Queen to change history.

* * *

Cardan rested his head between his hands, it was only him in the throne room. Everyone else had scurried out like the rats that they were deep down inside. There was no rush of brown hair and burning glances, his mortal seneschal, his Queen of Shadows was no longer by his side nor will she be for some time if ever. 

He stood up jerkly, his movements lacked grace as he unsheathed the ornamental rapier that sat idly against his hip in it’s beautiful sheath. As he drew it the gems on the hilt glittered and the intricate carvings on the blade seemed to dance. It was light in his hands, but it still had weight. 

He moved it in an arch, the air whistled around the blade as if cut across nothing. 

Cardan had never been one to play with swords or daggers, he much preferred wine and dance. But there was a savage sense of pleasure as he fought against the air. 

He knew that he would not fair well in a real fight, Cardan would be bested in a moment. But alone he was his own enemy. And it was himself that he fought against. Sweat built on his brow as he slashed and parried and blocked nothing. Letting the sound of blade whistling through the air and the metallic scrape as the tip dragged across the floor. 

Cardan shed his heavy jacket and danced across the floor, white shirt only half laced and stepping lightly even though he wore leather boots.

When Jude fought, it was controlled and exact, her movements as fluid as water. Her sword seemed to be an extension of herself. She drew her own lethality and put it into each strike.

But when Cardan fought, his moves were lazy and inexact. Erratic one moment and graceful the next. His blade whistled with the melody of a fae symphony. He moved with dance and he struck with song. 

She fought with the brutality of a warrior and he fought with the grace of a fae. 

Cardan didn’t notice how tears mixed with sweat as he danced across the room.

* * *

The day had come, Jude was ready. 

The bomb had visited Jude a few times throughout her exile, bearing news and clothes for her inevitable return although neither of them acknowledged that particular fact. 

She slipped on her doublet and riding pants, smiling at the familiar feeling of it all except for the cool metal of the gun and the weight of the holster against her hip. Opposite to the weight of Nightfell. 

Her satchel was filled with clips that where loaded with iron bullets and next to the clips were daggers. 

Jude was fury embodyment, if she could not find a place for herself she would carve one out. 

In a flurry of fabric she donned her cloak and swept out of the door. She seemed a phantom clad in black as she raced up the halls of the apartment building, throwing open the door of the roof grandly. 

And there stood her steed, made of straw and magic, nothing of the mortal realm, no, it would be their own magic that brings their destroyer to them. The Queen of Shadows, the wraith of the Crown.

Jude hoisted herself onto the horse and kicked it with her heal. She whooped into the air as it galloped across the midnight sky. The cool wind pulled at her braid with it’s icy fingers, tears sprung to her eyes but she just leaned forward, hands gripping onto the hay main. 

She felt as if she were atop the world.

She  _ is  _ atop of the world.

A laugh tears through her.

“I’m on top of the world and you can’t stop me fuckers,” she screamed to the wind.

* * *

Judes footsteps sounded loudly against the stone floor as she barreled through the halls of the castle. Her hand rested on her gun as two guards crossed their swords in front of the throne room entrance, the large doors were closed.

Two large trolls sneered at her.

“Speak your name and your business.”

Jude flipped back her hood, a snarl on her lips. 

“Do not make me hurt you, let me through,” the guards only hesitated a moment before charginging her, both at once. 

All at once she pulled out her gun and Nightfell, parrying the first trolls sword while shoving the gun into the other ones leg, pulling the trigger she painting the door red with the guards blood. 

She pulled back her sword and fought against the remaining guard, as the other guard lay on the floor howling.

She gritted her teeth, “Oh stop your whining it wont even kill you if you patch it up.”

With a final slash she thrust her sword into the second trolls shoulder and sends him sprawling as she kicks him off her sword. 

She dragged the trolls around the corner and into a passageway that had gone unused since Cardan came into power.

Jude flips her hood back on and walks back. 

The bottom half of her cloak is soaked in blood as she throws open the throne room doors. 

The room is silent, only Cardan is there. He was draped on the throne, his long legs splayed over the side and his head rested on the other. In his hand was a rapier that glinted with gems of all sorts. She could see the blisters forming on his normally smooth palms. 

“Was I not clear enough, I believe I told everyone to  **leave,** ” his voice was rough but athortitarial. The voice of a King.

Jude growled, “ Would you disrespect your Queen in such a way Cardan?”

In a moment he bolted upwards, long legs swinging in front of him and rapier clumsily in hand, he stood quickly, pointing the blade at her.

His eyes where impossibly wide, “Jude?”

* * *

In front of him stood his worst nightmare and his most cherished dream, Jude.

She stood proudly, her black cloak was drenched in red at the bottom, a crimson path seemed to follow her to him and she pointed a mortal contraption at him, it was all sharp lines and dark colors. It looks wrong against the elegant swooping fabric that covered her body, her curves and angles seems to sharpen at the thing that was pointed directly at him.

A shiver went down his spine and the rapier in his hand seemed too light, like a toy. 

Something glinted in her eyes, “Cardan.”

She grinned at him, pointing the gun. His eyes focused on it and she could see the grip on the rapier tighten. But he became impossibly paler. 

“Jude you came back-” it seemed that he wanted to say more but cut himself off.

A million emotions seemed to flood through her as she met his eyes, anger, sadness, lust, heartbreak, hate,  _ love… _ It wasn’t enough to describe how she felt.

So she pulled the trigger, and felt repulsion and pleasure at the small yelp that came from him when the bullet struck the ground at his feet. He recoiled, nearly tripping over his feet as he scrambled away from the hole where his foot once was. His eyes flick from the hole to the gun and back to the hole. 

He looked at her with pure offence in his eyes, “What in the stars name  _ is  _ that?” 

It took a lot not to roll her eyes at him. 

It was almost laughable that the High King didn’t know what one of the most common human weapons was. 

Or what it was capable of doing to him.

“It’s a gun Cardan, a much smaller and easier crossbow if you will,” she drawlled.

Jude knew he was scared even though he hid it well. A large smirk was plastered on his face and he leaned on the throne, rapier loosely held in his hand. 

“Well my lovely wife, that would be a spectacular addition to our armory if you ask me,” her purred at her, only the wild thrashing of his tail truly showed his fear. 

Another burst of anger drove Jude forward, she lunged at him, taking him to the ground and pressing the barrel to his head. 

He froze, eyes blown wide with fear, he was impossibly still as she lay on top of him, willing her eyes bore into him. Her cloak covered both of them in a blanket of bloody satin. 

“I want you to know how much I hate you, my dear husband,” she growled into his pointed ears.

“Jude,” he whispered, gripping onto her calf, his eyes where half lidded.

“Don’t you understand dear, I had no other choice,” his hand tightened each time around her calf with every word.

His eyes darkened, “Either you left or you die Jude my dear. There was nothing better to do, you had to pay for killing the ambassador and you were on the verge of death from your time in the Undersea. Orlaghs sharks were out for blood and yours was all over the water Jude.”

Jude felt numb, she did not feel his body against her own nor did she feel the metal of the gun in her hand. 

“Stop  _ lying _ ,” she gritted through teeth, pressing the gun closer to his head.

He raised a single eyebrow at her.

“You could have told me something,” she said, anguish laced her words, her eyes stung with unshed tears.

“You wouldn’t have gone Jude, you know as well as I do,” she stared into his black eyes, they were soft. Softer than she had ever seen them even though she was putting a gun to his head. 

She moved the gun from his head and back into its holster. 

“How was it your right,” she asked quietly, hands gripping onto his shirt, “How is it your right to decide what happens to my life?”

His tail moved up and down her leg in soft motions, his arms moved up to the small of her back and gently pressed her into himself, “Because my love, I am and always will be selfish.”

She let herself fall into him, pressing her forehead into his shoulder a few tears escaped from her eyes and fell onto his shirt. 

“You cast me away like I was nothing Cardan.”

“I cast you away because you are everything Jude.”

And the dam inside her broke, all of the heartache and pain she felt bled into the burning anger as she gripped onto his shirt and sobbed.

“ _ I hate you, _ ” she’d whisper.

“ _ I know, _ ” he’d answer. 

* * *

Cardan stroked Judes hair as she lay atop of him, his heart  _ hurt. _ It hurt more than he thought it could, he had hurt her to the point of tears. 

She has never cried in front of him, no matter what happened she would never cry. All misfortune seemed to anger her, fuel her fire but never has he seen her shed tears. 

He broke the strongest person she knew and he pushed her to that point.

His arms did not wrap around her for he knew that she did not like being trapped. So he lay his hand on her hip and stroked her hair. 

The sound of footsteps seemed to cut through the still air and in a moment Jude was off of him, and another low bang cut through the room as well as scream and shout. 

Cardan pushed himself up to see a strange sense in front of him. 

Jude was arguing with Vivienne, they both hovered over Locke's whimpering form.

“You just shot our fucking brother in law point blank,” Vivienne yelled at Jude. 

“What are you even doing here,” she yelled back, dodging the question. 

“I’m  _ here _ so you don’t get yourself killed!”

“Oh yeah? What the hell are you doing with that prick,” Jude jabs her  _ gun _ at Locke who growled. 

“I’ll make you pay for this,” he grit out glaring sharply at Jude who looked bored. 

“Debit or credit?”

“Jude,” Vivienne warned. 

“Perfect opportunity, couldn’t help it,” she shrugged. 

Cardan stood and walked over to Jude’s side quietly, looking at Locke who still lay on the floor clutching his shoulder. 

“As interesting as this conversation is if you don’t get the iron out of him he will die,” Cardan stated rather boredly. 

In truth Cardan hated Locke to some extent, for all he had done to him and to Jude. Plus he was just an overall asshat, or whatever the mortals say. 

Vivienne cast a glance at him, which he did not return, her eyes quickly flicked to Jude who was busy trying to wipe the blood off of her boot. Her catlike eyes come back to him, looking at his shirt, his hair, then back to Jude.

She grinned.

“I’ll take Locke to the infirmary, you two don’t kill each other,” she said as she helped lift up the fae boy and walked him out of the throne room.

Jude looks at the puddle of blood on the floor.

“I’ve always wanted to stab him but I guess shooting him works just as well,”  _ Jude,  _ his ruthless queen.

Far more fae than most, born to live and rule. One could only hope to stand beside her, for if not beside then in her way. And may the stars help ones who get in her way.

He had never wanted her more than in that moment.

Jude, his mortal Queen.

* * *

Jude was hyper aware of Cardans eyes on her, her face, her body, his tar eyes seemed to bore into her soul. She silently prayed that the moment of vulnerability she had with him only minutes ago would not be the end of her. Jude knew she wouldn’t be able to bear it again, something was teetering on the edge for her. 

And Cardan was the only one with the power to make it fall.

She returned his gaze with her own intensity,  _ If I fall you will fall with me. _

“Come to my chambers Jude, there is much to discuss,” Judes breathes in sharply and nods her head at him.

She flicks her hood back on and walked alongside him, down the hall they were a strange sight indeed.

The king, bare to his shirt, hair stuck to his face with sweat and a phantom, clad in black stained in red. A horrible shadow, a ghost to haunt the halls for all that had wronged them. 

In a way, it was true, Jude was a phantom, there but not. In the palace to haunt it’s halls.

With a wave of his hand Cardan dismissed the guards that were stationed at his door, they walked in quietly. 

He turned to her and pulled down her hood, their eyes met and in a flash of movement their lips met, it was like a fire that consumed them both, he hoisted her up by her legs and pushed her into a wall. Judes legs wrapped around him as one hand made its way inside his collar and the other tugged on his head, slanting his mouth so she kissed him impossibly deeper. 

She felt as if they were devouring each other, deeper, deeper, more, more. 

Soon clothes were shed and they fell onto the bed, Cardan hovered above her.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down to her.

He fell into her embrace and buried his head in her chest. 

“Welcome home, my Queen.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the result of when I try to make things funny... :/


End file.
